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Material Requirements for Buffer Layers Used to Obtain Solar Cells with High Open Circuit Voltages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Bolko Von Roedern  and
Gottfried H. Bauer
Bolko Von Roedern
Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO 80401-3993
Gottfried H. Bauer
Affiliation:
Carl von Ossietzky Universität, P.O. Box 2503, D-261 11 Oldenburg, Germany
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Abstract

This paper discusses material requirements for junction layers needed to obtain solar cells with highest possible open-circuit voltages (VOC). In a typical a-Si:H-based “p/i/n” solar cell, this includes the transparent conductive oxide (TCO) contact layer, the p-layer, a “buffer layer” inserted at the p/i interface, and the surface portion of the intrinsic layer. In HIT-cells, the i-layer between (n-type) c-Si and (p-type) a-Si:H may be regarded as the buffer. Our suggestion to obtain high values of VOC relies on using materials with high lifetimes and low carrier mobilities that are capable of reducing surface or junction recombination by reducing the flow of carriers into this loss-pathway. We provide a general calculation that supports these approaches and can explain why these schemes are beneficial for all solar cells.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 557: Symposium A – Amorphous and Heterogeneous Silicon Thin Films—Fundamentals to Devices—1999 , 1999 , 761
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

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